Rip Hamilton is not the same All-Star level player from 2005 — he’s a step slower, he can’t create his own shot and his defense is not what it was. That said, he is a huge upgrade for the Bulls at the two guard — he average 14 points a night and shot 38 percent from three last year, numbers that would make the Bulls very, very happy. He is going to run off down screens, move off the ball and give Derrick Rose another target.

Keith Bogans and Ronnie Brewer are behind him, but Brewer is having a good camp so don’t be shocked to see him get more run off the bench. That said, this is Rip’s starting spot. And closing spot.

In an arms race with the Heat (and to a lesser degree the Knicks) the Bulls just got better.

That’s a fine sentiment. Saying it publicly is another matter. Not even Harden did that a couple years ago. He was recorded during a pregame team huddle.

There’s a fine line between self-fulfilling confidence and providing bulletin-board material to the opponent. There’s already some animosity between the teams stemming from the Stephen Curry-Harden MVP race in 2015, and it has bubbled since. No matter how harmless Capela’s remark might have been intended to be, it’ll be met contentiously in the Bay Area.

Oklahoma City traded for Victor Oladipo out of Orlando to be their third scorer, behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. It didn’t exactly work out that way, Durant bolted town and when Westbrook went off Oladipo was looking for a place to fit in.

That place turned out to be the Pacers.

Oladipo has been playing like an All-Star this season with Indiana, and last week he was key in snapping Cleveland’s 13 game win streak, then turned around and dropped 47 points on Denver. For the week he averaged 35.7 points a game, shot 45.7 percent from three, plus grabbed 7.7 rebounds per game.